Pawn
by CaIamity
Summary: Your life is never truly your own.


_**A/N:**_ Thanks for clicking on my story! I'm new to publishing in this particular site, and to be frank, I've already spun myself in enough circles to last a century. I truly have no guarantee that I'll finish this, but I might as well try. This story was really just a test subject that got out of hand, so pardon the extreme and definitely unrealistic settings.

 _This story has not been edited, or edited based solely on grammar and punctuation, of which there are still probably faults._ You've been warned of plot holes and run-on sentences.

..I promise this is a poorly-written _Naruto_ fic. Give me a chapter or two, I have no idea where I was headed in the beginning.

Enjoy!

* * *

Mother nature definitely should've implemented a strict sleeping schedule into all of her children. Asleep when the sun's gone down, and awake only after the sun has risen again- that's how things were supposed to run.

Alas, close to no one follows her rules, especially not now. Mother nature's rules had already been disregarded hundreds of years ago, when humans decided that bulldozing down precious rainforests was a good method of income. And now? Deforestation was only the start of the human revolution.

It wasn't even human anymore.

 _xxxxx_

Why the city even bothered to keep sidewalks was a mystery to anyone who ever bothered setting foot upon it. Close to everyone owned some sort of vehicle now, and teleporters were invented only a few decades ago, so walking really wasn't anything short of a waste of time.

And yet, an occasional few still decided to do so- and though they were usually above the age of 130 and waving their walking sticks up at the winged rats that swarmed the cities- there were few, still of young age, that had decided that they enjoyed the walking.

However much they could, anyway, with the blaring of flying cars and jets and everything from A to Z that just seemed to love crowding the streets. It seems as if not everyone could afford one of those fancy teleporters just yet.

"Hey! My wallet! You there, stop!"

It also seemed like theft was still an issue.

The victim, although trying his best to catch up with the thief, simply couldn't. An almost manic grin had spread itself over her face as she dashed through the streets, ponytail swishing from side to side as she weaved in and around the speeding cars, just enough until she was sure that the man was no longer an issue.

It wasn't long before the girl had finally slowed to a walk, slightly out of breath from the exhilaration. The toothy smile never left her face as she counted her goods, walking swiftly down the sidewalk while searching through the wallet with a wide grin on her face. Money, coins, micro-chips, holograph machine.. Anything a normal civilian would've had on them. She rolled her eyes, sighing in disappointment as she shoved the wallet into her pockets.

Her ears flattened against the top of her head when the voice of a stranger interrupted her thoughts, lips curling back in a snarl. She glared at the middle-aged man, seated safely inside his hovering car, already tuning out to the expected monologue.

"Pantheran scum! The government is going to round all of you up one day, and cut off those mangy tails and force them down your-"

"Shut the fuck up, dude! In case you haven't noticed, the only people who like _you_ are other shitty humans and mutant cockroaches- and I'm not sure about the second one. Roll up your damn window before I shit in it."

The violent thrashing of her tail never ceased, even after her she was glaring at her own reflection in the car window.

 _'Damn,'_ she noted to herself with a hint of surprise, ' _I look like trash.'_

And she really did. Her wavy locks of hair weren't at all neat anymore, strangled up into a half-assed ponytail with stray bits flying out all over the place. The ponytail was supposed to end right below her shoulders, but the lack of proper care for it had caused it to bunch up into a tangled mess of black. It had been weeks since her last proper shower, unable to steal enough money to afford a hotel or even motel room to wash up in- and although her physical appearance didn't faze her, the sticky feel and stench convinced her to care just enough.

 _'Hope Krul doesn't mind,'_ she thought, gaze softening slightly when her companion appeared in her mind. ' _We're gonna have to sleep out in the park again.. At least I've got something for him, that dude-'_

A sudden and obnoxiously loud honk caused her to jump slightly, hardening her stare once more. Silver-gray eyes glinted in the headlights as she scanned the crowd of waiting cars, glowering at each and every human that happened to intercept her vision. She didn't stop glaring until the traffic bot turned a bright shade of green and the cars all sped past, travelling at speeds not meant to be reached by mere mortals into a land overtaken by technology and science.

Earth had come a long, sad way.

"Fuckin' idiots," the girl muttered, tail twitching behind her occasionally in irritation.

Another thing that apparently hadn't changed over the hundreds of years was the form of language.

It only took a little while before the girl reached her destination, the scowl that had replaced her joyful smile since her unfortunate encounter vanishing as she took in a deep breath. The scent of artificial pine in Park X0183YBH- How wonderful. Not many people liked to hang out around parks now, so the marble fountains and pebbled walkways weren't showing much off to anyone.

"Krul?" She called, and when she received no answer, she called again, louder this time. "Krul! Look at the goods I got!"

She rolled her eyes when an interested chirp sounded from behind her, twirling around with a grin to greet an owl's face.

"You only show up when you hear that I've got stuff.. I hate you," the girl smiled as she ran a slender hand through Krul's furry head, running gingerly over the feline ears before she scratched at the spot under his chin lightly. The beast purred in delight, wings beating at the chilly air as he twisted his head to expose more of his furry throat.

She chuckled softly before mumbling, "Have I ever told you how lucky I am? I'm sure I have," a giggle escaped her as she sat down next to her partner, continuing to stroke at the dense fur. "Even in this world, where someone like me exists, you're still super special. You don't see your fellow griffons out there as much, huh?"

Krul whined softly, falling to the floor with a thump as he twisted his body around to lie on his back, fuzzy belly soaking in the light of the closest lamp. The vibrations from his purrs echoed louder and louder with every stroke of her hands, until she finally stopped to fish something out of her back pocket. The griffon's beak opened wide as Krul yawned, a whine escaping him as he prodded at his companion with his head. A rather human-like whimper rumbled from within his throat, causing the girl to laugh and turn her attention back on him.

"I guess you can't speak this language yet, huh? Try again- sss-kuhh-eyee.."

His beak opened in strange and yet amusing formations as Krul tried his best to imitate his friend, but he soon realized that his efforts to spell out her name were ultimately only for her enjoyment, and he stopped with an annoyed snort.

"S-kai. Skye," she repeated, laughing when one of Krul's wings knocked into her head by 'accident'. "Sorry bud, it's always fun to watch you. You'll get it some day, don't worry! Here, this's for you-" Skye's face lit up as she remembered the treat she had managed to snag, pulling out a chunk of raw meat and dangling it between her fingers. Krul's grumpy demeanor evaporated along with the chilly breeze, leaping up immediately and snatching the meat out of Skye's hands.

"Deer wing- Your favorite. I snatched it off the racks while I was running." A smile appeared on both their faces, Krul's at the sight of food and Skye's at how Krul devoured it in such delight.

Her ears started to twitch a tad bit more than usual, her uncanny senses making out the form of something parting the wind, and Skye rose from the ground, muscles tensing slowly until she saw who was thumping along the gravel.

"Yo, Skye! I knew I'd find you here. You got anything for me?"

"Arkyn! What're you doing here? I thought your sister had you holed up at home all month." Relaxing nervously, Skye greeted the boy with a toothy grin and a wave, reaching up to scuff up his hair when he got close enough.

"Hey, watch the hair! I spent all morning fixing that.."

"You're just so small, it's hard to resist. Almost as fluffy as Krul's scruff- and that's an accomplishment."

"I'm almost taller than you, what do you mean?!"

"Well you'll always be three years younger!"

Arkyn grumbled and crossed his arms, pouting when Skye started to laugh at his physique. He eventually started to laugh alongside her, the conjoined laughter echoing into the park around them. Even Krul looked up from his meal to give them a questioning look.

"So do you have anything for me?"

"If you mean food, I gave Krul all I had. You'll have to ask him if you can have any."

Arkyn knelt down beside the beast, cocking his head to the side and asking, "Can I have some..? Please?"

Krul paused his meal, and only looked at the boy before headbutting him and resuming eating. Bursting into a chorus of laughter, Skye gave Krul a mischievous smile and an air high-five before helping Arkyn up. She also swiped up the last morsel of meat that Krul hadn't eaten yet, at the cost of a displeased hiss and glare, and gave the bit of flesh to the boy.

"Here, here. I'm sure you and your sister don't get food often. Krul, I'll find you more, ya greedy bastard, quit glaring at me."

Krul only snorted in disdain, though his belly was content and thus his mind was as well.

"Holy shit, thank you!" Arkyn gave Skye a quick hug before swiping the morsel from her hands and stuffing the entire piece in his mouth. His cheek bulged out as he tried to bite down, sharp canines eventually scissoring through the meat.

"Language!" She scolded, thwacking him upside the head playfully as Arkyn swallowed.

"Like you're one to talk," he mumbled, lapping up the remains of his meal from his fingers.

"Good point," she agreed with a laugh, "But damn, I hope you and your sister get lucky someday, you two can't keep living like this.."

"We will, don't worry. I'd say the same for you but you've got this guy," Arkyn pat Krul on the head a few times, "here with you. I don't have to worry about nothin'. What is he again?"

"A griffon, Arkyn, haven't you been going to class? Wait, don't answer that." Both her and Arykn chuckled as they knelt down beside Krul, Skye stroking through his dense fur with careful claws.

"You know I don't have time, but I _was_ doing some of my own research! The teacher dude assigned this essay that was due like, a month ago," Skye rolled her eyes and sighed, but Arkyn ignored her, "-about the people who lived wayyy back in the 21st century. Turns out, they're pretty cool! They didn't have everything that we have, but they were all still human, and there wasn't really any discrimination back then. Well, they always did complain about stupid things like skin color and gender- when they only had a few of each, by the way- but I mean, that's nothing compared to now, right?"

Nodding her head in thought, Skye ran her fingers through the griffon's fur absent-mindedly. "Yeah," she mumbled, "Now we've got _everything_. There's a skin color for every spot in the spectrum, things that don't even have genders- and plus, there're things like these shitty tails we have to worry about. Now that I think about it, we're lucky, only getting a tail and ears. The claws are a _bonus_ , but some things? Webs, fins, horns, scales, extra eyes and arms and heads and.. Damn. We're like aliens."

"We already have aliens living here with us, Skye."  
"You know that's not what I meant!"

"Yeah, yeah," Arkyn waved his hand, accidentally swatting one of Krul's ears. Skye giggled when Krul reached a giant paw over and shoved the poor boy, sending him toppling over in a fit of giggles.

"And get this," Arkyn sat back up almost immediately, face lit up and tone chirpy in excitement. "They had this thing called _anime_ , which are like, cartoons but 100x cooler! I researched into it and there was this one thing called Nah-roo-toe that was going on for half a century until their main dude finally died, and it was soo interesting! They were basically super-badass-ninjas that used this blue-snotty-stuff- Oh right, chakra!- to fight bad dudes and the main dude has this problem with the side-main-dude and the two end up-"

Skye rolled her eyes, smothering Arkyn's mouth with a hand to muffle his blabbering. "Yeah, yeah. Are you going to be a 'ninja' now?"

Arkyn pouted, but reluctantly stopped talking so quickly. Skye laughed, ruffling up his hair as she stared up at the trees, a content smile still resting on her face as Arkyn started to blabber on about this "Naruto" thing once more.

It seemed to be quite interesting, with the way the plot happened to curve and twist. Perhaps Arkyn was simply exaggerating when he mentioned someone with a 'weird special eye'. Eye, in singular form. Fascinating.

 _xxxxx_

"Krul, if you steal that girl's purse, I'll give you a treat."

A muffled grunt was the reply given, not that it wasn't expected.

"C'mon, I know you know that it's your favorite."

A drawled out yawn rose up to the starlit skies above them, and Skye laughed.

"You got me, I don't have any food on me. See, your nose is just as good as mine."

She chuckled as Krul sighed, his large body expanding and contracting with each breath. It was soothing, to simply snuggle up against his warm body and to lay there with him, not a word (or whine) exchanged. Skye tilted her head up to stare at the twinkling clouds above, focused on a little bit of everything. Past the honking and blinding headlights of the cars above them, Skye could hear the griffon's heartbeat from where she was, the slow and methodical thump washing over her jittery nerves and allowing her to clearly see how the night blanketed the world in a strange, yet soothing peace, and how her breath billowed up into the frosty air in puffs of white.

"You know, it doesn't really seem like winter, does it? All this science has mucked up our seasons, and it looks like the government controls it now, huh. I was just talking to Arkyn about this before he left." Skye felt Krul nod under her, and she buried herself further into Krul's fur when one of his wings curled up around her. She started to stroke each of his feathers carefully, running a finger along each of the spotted ones absent-mindedly as she continued. "I really hate it sometimes, ya know? I wish the mountains from those pictures were still real, and the oceans and lakes and hills and just- everything. I don't even think we can even go a mile or so without crashing into a hovercraft or a building of some sort."

Krul purred, his body vibrating from the action and causing Skye to giggle softly at the sensation, and at the content in Krul's tone at having his feathers stroked. "It's okay though. I mean, without all those scientist dudes, neither of us would exist. Then again, all these race and class discriminations wouldn't exist either.."

Skye huffed, though she never took her eyes off of Krul's speckled wings and how each feather rustled under her claws. "Everyone's still human, for the most part. I mean, those 'pure' humans are the highest class, which, to be perfectly honest is _disgusting_ because _I_ could scratch out their existence alone, but noo, _I'm_ a lowly _Pantheran_ and have to bow down to those _asshats_ and-"

An annoyed snort followed by Skye's personal pillow abruptly rising to his paws caused her trail of thought to cut off, leaving her on her own as she clawed at the dirt under her to keep her balance. Krul lightly smacked one of his giant paws on her head in a scolding fashion, smothering her vision of the blinking stars for a second before he started to lick at one of his wings gingerly.

Skye laughed sheepishly as she apologized, her claws retracting back to their normal state as she stood up to run her hand through Krul's fur. "Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you. I guess I just got worked up again.. Hey, the sun's gonna set in a few hours. That dude I stole from earlier today? Turns out he was living in a hotel," Skye grinned as she held up a key, the metal clinking together as it hung from her fingers. "Room 303- Third floor! We're gonna live high tonight, bud."

Chirruping in joy, Krul nuzzled Skye in thanks, going back to licking at a bead of blood on his injured feather until it had gone.

"Alright, hurry up then. They won't let you in when you're like this."

He stared at Skye for a short while, his owlish eyes staring into Skye's silver ones before he turned his back to her and sat down on his haunches, staring into the empty mass of blue above him. Skye smiled at what her friend had just told her, the warmth of wonder still flooding through her veins even after she had witnessed this a hundred-thousand times. Krul couldn't see the moon with buildings in the way, but he could feel its energy twirling into his partner's awed spirit, both glimmering and shining through the darkness of the night.

It only took a few seconds, as it always had. Skye still didn't have a proper hold on how or what occurred, but she didn't open her mouth to speak at all when Krul vanished in nothing but a small wisp of dancing scarlet, only cupped her hands open to catch the small gemstone that had appeared in Krul's place.

Smiling softly, Skye dug around her scarf for the necklace that she had worn for as long as she could remember, searching for the medallion with warm fingers. Her smile only grew when she located it, clicking the clasp open with a metallic clink before fitting Krul's gemstone snugly inside.

She closed and nested the medallion back into her scarf before zipping up her jacket, snuggling her face into the fabric of her scarf as she started to walk, slowly at first, and then faster and faster until the tapping of her shoes melded together with the cawing of birds and the engine of cars flying up above.

 _xxxxx_

"Guest room 303, sir. Please try and stay silent, all of our guests are currently sleeping."

"Of course. I'm just on my way to visit a _friend_. Have a splendid evening."

"To you as well."

The man walked briskly, tipping his hat down often even as he entered the teleporter. He stared at the controls for a solid minute or two before finally activating it, and almost seemed surprised when he arrived at his chosen destination immediately. The security bots were slightly confused, though there were plenty of people who still weren't sure about the teleporter and how safe it really was, so they didn't bother with the man.

He stared at the door in front of him, checking to make sure that it was room 303. When the numbers matched with his memory, he opened the locked door and entered silently, the girl slumbering before him a perfect match of the description he was given.

He crept forward in stealth, clearly having done this many times before, and paused right at the foot of her bed.

She was rather pretty. Still quite young. What a shame.

In one second, he had his hands and an oddly-shaped syringe held up against her neck, and in the next, a loud screech erupted from the nightstand, screaming an avian call again and again until it's owner had awakened. It only took two screeches before Skye awoke with a jump, all her instincts on edge as she grabbed her shrieking medallion and lunged at her attacker in one motion.

The ripping of flesh was what she had expected- the clean cutting sound of wood was all she received. She didn't have time to question or even think about what her ears had picked up on; With her ears curled back and fangs exposed in a snarl, Skye's claws had unsheathed themselves as she stared her attacker in what she thought to be his face, though all she could make out was a mass of swirling black even with her peculiar vision.

"You touch me with that thing, and I swear you'll never-"

Skye never got the chance to finish her sentence.

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** Some pronunciations, though I guess it really doesn't make a difference.

Skye: Sky

Krul: Cruel; Kuh-rool

Arkyn: Ark-inn


End file.
